Hey KNOW friends,
We’re stirring the peace pot, and honoring a man who not only has strong Kalamazoo connection,
but he helped bring the Vietnam War to an end.
We will honor Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who recently died, in several ways.
How is he connected locally, you ask? Ah, his nephew lives here!
Yes, Jerry Berrigan of Peace House fame, son of former priest Phillip Berrigan, is our heartfelt connection to Fr. Dan.
It was the two men, both real brothers, and real priests at the time, who took matters in hand,
and in May, 1968, with seven others, burst into the Catonsville, MD., Selective Service office near Baltimore,
took the A-1 file drawer, took it outside, and burned 378 files to a crisp w/napalm! They even had the balls to call the press for the action!
Fr. Dan remained a man of the cloth, and wrote an account of the action, staged as a play, called The Trial of the Catonsville Nine.
Now we wish to honor Fr. Dan’s legacy, and are doing a group read of the play, I’ll call it “9” for ease.
We hope you will find your copy, or get one, many are available via amazon, read it, and be ready to discuss ”9” with us,
Thursday, September 22, 2016, 4: – 6:p, location yet to be set. Like a book club deal, but with peace as the thread that weaves us together.
Then it gets better. We will stage an out loud theatrical reading of the play! No props, no napalm necessary,
just 12 strong passionate readers who will bring this important part of American history to life,
we’ll set that date soon. Don’t I wish that such terrible events as the Vietnam War were only history.
I did the amazon thing, got an edition of “9” put out by Fordham U, 2004,
it includes an afterward by a sharp thinker comparing Vietnam to Iraq.
Stomach turning. Wasted tax dollars. Wasted lives. But are we going to go to bed crying again?
Maybe, but we can hit the “refresh” in the morning and get to work!
I encourage you to get the play, read it, and join us, September 22,
for a thoughtful discussion on this work. We are also approaching local theatre venues
to stage a professional production of the play, that’s in the works for next year.
Additionally, KNOW and Peace House friends will hold a memorial service for Fr. Dan Berrigan
on Friday, Sept. 30, 7:30p., at St. Thomas Moore Church,
AND
join Peace House folks the next day, Sat., Oct. 1, in Battle Creek
as we vigil at the Battle Creek Air National Guard gate to protest ongoing drone operations there.
We’ll love to have you join us for these events and meet the super folks in Battle Creek,
Voices for Peace, at the drone vigil. I’m hopin’ for a picnic, too. I’ll bring the cookies!
A hilarious aside – one of the files burned was that of a young guy whose parents
were peace activists and really really stressing about their son’s possible forced participation in the Vietnam War.
The young guy was David Burn, who didn’t go to ‘nam because of this Catonsville napalm thing,
and he went on to be the Talking Heads musician! Something worked out fine!
And yeah, the nine activists did time, willingly. They even refused to participate in jury selection,
and the first 12 were chosen, most with long connection to Fed. Govt. work. Very interesting. Kunsler was the Nine atty.
We will appreciate knowing if you will join us for any of the above, please give us a shout at:
Soon, Cheers, Peace,
Karen Chadwick
Convener, KNOW
